Material-moving device



9. 196.8 a c. J. ASTILL 3,391,473

MATERIAL-MOVING DEVICE Filed Sept. 27, 1965 v 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 PATENT AGENT July 9, 1968 c. J. ASTILL MATERIAL-MOVING DEVICE 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Sept. 27. 1965 T. N a A .T m M P United States Patent 3,391,478 MATERIAL-MOVING DEVICE Cyril J. Astill, P.0. Box 903, 11 Darwin Crescent, Deep River, Ontario, Canada Filed Sept. 27, 1965, Ser. No. 490,349 Claims priority, application Canada, Mar. 1, 1965, 924,401 11 Claims. (Cl. 37-41) This invention relates to a material-moving device, and more particularly to a plow for clearing surfaces of loose material, such as snow.

It is well known that during snow plowing operations on roadways during and after snow storms with conventional snow plowing equipment, drieveways having access to the roadways have a mound of snow piled in their openings by the passing equipment. The removal of such a mound involves a considerable amount of extra work for the householder and due to the fact the snow plowed from the roadway is usually very dense the handling of this snow is exceptionally heavy work. Moreover, since a plugged driveway is frequently impassable for a vehicle, driving hazards are developed by vehicles parked with at least a portion thereof extending out into the path of traffic on the roadway.

A similar problem is presented at intersections of roads. As conventional snow plowing equipment passes along a road, it piles a barrier of snow into each intersecting road and the sidewalks of the intersecting road as it passes. Moreover, when a relatively heavy snow fall is involved, only main arteries can be immediately cleared, and secondary roads are left for at least several hours before they are plowed. This not only causes an inconvenience for motorists entering and leaving secondary roads, but it can cause a serious safety hazard since vehicles entering the busier main artery have to charge through the snow barrier.

In an attempt to avoid the formation of such snow barriers, equipment has been put into use which includes a blade adapted to be selectively swung into a blocking position at the delivery end of the snow plow blade to thereby prevent the snow from spilling from the snow plow blade as it passes an intersecting driveway or road. This equipment has not proved effective in cases of heavy snow falls and has been found generally incapable of pushing the snow all the way across a Wide intersection without considerable spill-over. With this known equipment a large pile builds up in front of the plow blade at the delivery end, which pile is heaped at the corner of the intersection as the blocking blade is moved to an inoperative position. Such a large pile of snow left at one spot falls back into the intersection and the adjacent sidewalks and, moreover, can impair visibility at the intersection.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a plow of simple and strong design which is capable of storing snow across an intersection and then distributing the stored snow evenly along a distance past the intersection.

According to the present invention there is provided a rear blade, a framework, and a front blade held by the framework at a distance in front of the rear blade in the direction of travel of the plow to define a storage space in front of the rear blade, each blade having a material engaging front surface extending at an angle to the direction of travel of the plow. At least a portion of the front blade is movable relative to the framework between a plowing position and a snow passing open position. There is further provided a plurality of spaced plate members arranged to move relative to the framework between an inoperative position and a working position, the plate members in the working position extending forwardly ice from the front surface of the rear blade to divide the storage space along the front of the rear blade into a plurality of compartments for receiving and storing snow passing the portion of the front blade in the open position.

Preferably the movable portion of the front blade and the plate members are mounted on a common shaft extending transversely of the plow substantially parallel to the front surface of the front blade, the plate members in the inoperative position extending upwardly from the shaft behind the front blade when the movable portion is in the plowing position.

In the accompanying drawings, which show one embodiment of the plow according to the present invention, by way of example:

FIGURE 1 is a perspective view of the plow as it appears during the snow storing operation;

FIGURE 2 is a top view of the plow as shown in FIGURE 1; and

FIGURE 3 is an end view of the plow as viewed from the left side of FIGURE 2 On a line parallel to the blades, the storage position of the elements being shown in dotted lines.

The plow of the present invention, denoted generally in the drawings by reference numeral 10, has a front blade 11 and a rear blade 12 connected by framework 13. A section 14, which is a major portion of the front blade 11, is detached from the remainder of the blade and is pivotally mounted relative to the framework 13 so it can swing to an inoperative position as shown in FIGURES 1 and 2 and in dotted lines in FIGURE 3.

A plurality of plate members 15 are secured to the back of section 14 and are arranged to swing downwardly from a raised inoperative position into a working position in the space between the front and rear blades 11, 12 as the section 14 is pivoted to the inoperative position.

The front and rear blades 11, 12 have elongated snow engaging front surfaces 16, 17 of concave cross-section, and the blades are mounted in the framework at an angle to the direction of travel of the plow 10, indicated by arrow 20, so that the elongated front surfaces 16, 17 slant away from the direction of travel 20 towards delivery ends 18, 19 of the blades. The front blade 11 with its detached section 14 can be made from a solid blade of the same configuration as the rear blade 12 by simply cutting the section from the solid blade along the outline of the section 14. The section 14 is preferably of substantially rectangular outline, as shown, and extends nearly the full length of the front blade 11. When the section 14 is cut from the solid blade, end portions 22, 22 are left at opposite ends of the blade, which end portions are aligned with the portion 14 to form a continuation of the front surface 16 when section 14 is in a lowered position for plowing. Also a narrow bottom strip 23, which is integral with end portions 22, 22, is left to extend along the bottom of the blade, and strip 23 aligns with the bottom edge of section 14 when section 14 is in the snow plowing position. To further improve the rigidity of front blade 11, a marginal strip joining end portions 22, 22 can also be left across the top of the blade so that section 14 in effect fits into a substantially rectangular opening or window in the front blade.

The framework 13 includes a pair of rigid arms 24, 24 which are connected to the top and back of rear blade 12 at opposite ends thereof and extend forward from rear blade 12 over the front surface 17. The arms 24, 24 are connected at their forward ends to the end portions 22, 22 of the front blade 11, the connection between arms 24, 24 and end portions 22, 22 being reinforced by webs 25, 25 which extend downwardly from the arms 24, 24 and are secured to the back of end portions 22, 22 as by welding or other similar connecting means. The arms 24, 24 thus hold front blade 11 at a distance in front of rear blade 12 to thereby define a storage space between the front and rear blades with the space at the delivery end 19 of the rear blade being open under the arm 24.

The blades 11, 12 are equipped with replaceable scraper plates 32, 33, respectively, along the lower parts of their front surfaces so as to provide forwardly projecting scraping edges 34, 35 in close proximity to the surface being cleared, the scraper plate 32 being fixed to and extending along bottom strip 23 of front blade 11. A pair of surface engaging replaceable shoes 36, 36 are provided under the ends of front blade 11, the shoes being bolted or otherwise connected to webs 25, 25. The shoes 36, 36 carry the scraping edge 34 of the front blade 11 a small distance above the surface being scraped (see particularly FIG. 3). Accordingly, the front blade 11 does not scrape the surface clean even when section 14 is in a plowing position but passes over a thin layer of snow. The rear blade 12 is also equipped with surface engaging shoes 37, 37, but these shoes do not hold the scraping edge 35 any significant distance above the surface being scraped. Therefore, the rear blade 12 makes the final cut of the thin layer of snow passed over by scraping edge 34.

Extending across the plow immediately behind the front blade 11 and parallel to the elongated front surface 16 is a shaft 40 which is journalled in webs 25, 25 behind end portions 22, 22 by way of sleeves 41, 41 mounted in webs 25, 25. The shaft 40 passes through aligned openings in plate members immediately behind section 14, the plate members 15 being fixed to shaft 40 by way of collars 42. Axial shifting of shaft 40 is prevented by collar 42 of plate member 15a at the delivery end of the plow and by an extra collar 43 fixed to the shaft 40 adjacent its other end. The plate members 15 are concavely contoured to embrace the back of section 14 and are connected to section 14 by welding or similar means. The connection of plate members 15 to section 14 thereby mounts the plate members and section 14 for pivotal movement about the common axis of shaft 40, and moreover, the plate members serve to reinforce and strengthen section 14. When the section 14 is in the plowing position, the main body of the plate members 15 extend upwardly from shaft 40 behind the front blade 11 as shown in solid lines in FIGURE 3. The plate members 15 are of sufiicient length to span the distance between the shaft 40 and the front surface 17 of the rear blade 12 as they are swung downwardly into the space between the front and rear blades. The rear edges 44 of the plate members 15 when in the lowered position are convexly contoured to fit closely into the concave surface 17, and their bottom edges 45 are straight and extend substantially parallel to the surface being scraped a small distance thereabove when in the lowered position. The plate members 15 extend at an angle relative to section 14 and shaft 40 so that as they are lowered into their working position they are vertical and parallel to the direction of travel of the plow. Thus, the plate members serve as a plurality of partitions which divide the space along the length of surface 17 into a plurality of snow receiving compartments, as shown at 46 in FIGURE 2, when section 14 is swung up to an inoperative position.

The blade member 15a at the end of shaft 40 adjacent the delivery end of the plow is inclined relative to the other plate members 15 so that as it swings to the lowered position its lower portion swings under the arm 24 and thereby extends the storage compartment defined by it substantially to the end of the scraping edge 35. Unlike the other plate members 15, plate member 15a is not vertical, therefore, but slants outwardly from top to bottom when in its lowered position to extend the storage space under the arm 24 at the delivery end of the plow.

The shaft 40 is located closer to the top of the front blade 11 than it is to the scraping edge 34 so that as section 14 is pivoted in a counterclockwise position as seen in FIGURE 3 until it is substantially horizontal, a large snow passing opening is provided through front blade 11 under section 14. r

A double acting piston and cylinder type fluid motor 47 is pivotally connected at opposite ends to the front surface 17 of rear blade 12 and to the section 14 at a point above shaft 40. The motor 47 is selectively supplied with pressurized fluid through lines 48, 48 which extend from the hydraulic system of the vehicle pushing the plow, whereby the operator sitting in the cab of the vehicle can control the position of the section 14 and plate members 15. As fluid is admitted to motor 47 to cause its contraction, the portion of section 14 above shaft 40 is pulled back towards the rear blade 11. This, of course, pivots the section 14 to the substantially horizontal open position with the lower portion thereof swinging upwardly in front of shaft 40. With this pivoting action of section 14, the plate members 15 are lowered between the front and rear blades so that they extend forwardly from front surface 17 in the direction of travel of the plow. Then when fluid is admitted to motor 47 to cause it to expand, section 14 is pushed back to its working position and plate members 15 are raised to their inoperative position.

Secured to the back of rear blade 12 are a plurality of mounting lugs or brackets 50 for connecting plow 10 to the front end lift system of the motor vehicle. The brackets 50 are formed from apertured vertical plates 51 which are reinforced with horizontal webs 52. The plates 51 and 52 in addition to providing the mounting means for the plow also increase the rigidity of rear blade 11.

In operation the plow 10 is mounted by brackets 50 to the front of the motor vehicle so that it is pushed along the roadway in front of the motor vehicle in the direction of arrow 20. Under normal operating conditions the section 14 is in a lowered working position so that section 14, end portions 22, 22 and bottom strip 23 present the snow engaging front surface 16 of the plow, and the major portion of the snow on the roadway is plowed to the side of the roadway at the delivery end of the plow by front blade 11. A thin layer passes under scraping edge 34, as previously described, and this thin layer is scraped up by scraping edge 35 and plowed to the side of the roadway by rear blade 12. Under these normal conditions the plate members 15 are in the raised position (FIGURE 3) and have no effect on the plowing operation.

As the plow approaches a driveway or road intersection, motor 47 is actuated to contract by the operator in the cab of the motor vehicle. This raises section 14 to its inoperative snow passing position and lowers plate members 15 in the manner previously described. Thus the plowing function of the front blade 11 is substantially stopped, and the major portion of the snow which was previously plowed by the front blade passes through the opening now provided above bottom strip 23 and enters the compartments 46 formed along the length of front surface 17 of rear blade 12. Thus the snow continues to pile up and be stored in compartments 46 as the plow passes the driveway or intersection.

When the plow reaches the other side of the driveway or intersection, the operator causes motor 47 to expand, and section 14 is thereby pushed back to a snow plowing position and resumes to plow a major portion of the snow as before. Plate members are raised, of course, as section 14 is pivoted back into its working position so that the snow collected in compartments 46 can commence travel towards the delivery end 19 of the rear blade 12.

Due to the fact the snow stored by plate members 15 is distributed across the length of the front surface 17, it does not leave the rear blade 12 all at once but feeds off the delivery end 19 for some time after the driveway or intersection has been passed. Thus large piles at the corners are avoided. Moreover, since front blade 11 takes over the plowing of the major portion of the snow as plate members 15 are raised, the distribution of the stored snow by the rear blade 11 is not encumbered by the fresh snow being plowed. The thin layer of snow permitted to pass under the front blade 11 is peeled up from the surface by the scraping edge 35 as the rear blade 12 is being cleared of stored snow, and this layer pushing up onto the rear blade 12 assists in rapidly clearing the rear blade 12 of any chunks or piles of the stored snow which have lodged on surface 17 after the raising of plate member 15.

It can be readily appreciated from the above that not only does the plow of the present invention avoid leaving large piles at the corner of intersections, but it is capable of storing larger quantities of snow without spillover than the previously described known plows which have one blocking blade at the delivery end of a single plowing blade. This greater storage feature is not only due to the fact the stored snow is stored in a substantially uniform manner across the entire length of the blade instead of in a large pile disorderly piled at the delivery end of the plowing blade, but also because the front blade 11 takes over the plowing operation as soon as the intersection is passed. In heavy snow conditions, spill-over continues even after the blocking blade has been removed in the known plows since the deep snow cannot be handled by the blade until the large pile which has collected in front of the single blade is cleared.

As indicated previously, the plate members 15 are arranged at an angle relative to the back of section 14 and shaft 40-, which angle is equal, of course, to the acute angle between the back of the blades and the direction of travel of the plow, so that the plate members 15 extend forwardly from surface 17 in the direction of travel. This fact reduces the loading on the plate members 15 and also reduces the vulnerability of the plate members being bent if the plow becomes heavily loaded or engages any obstructions.

As an alternative to the embodiment shown in the drawings, the entire front blade could be mounted in the frame to pivot upwardly to an inoperative position instead of just a major portion, such as section 14. However, with such a modification a heavier front blade would be necessary to obtain the same rigidity as is enjoyed by the above described embodiment or by an embodiment where a strip is also left across the top. Moreover, with the disclosed embodiment the bottom strip 23 and scraper plate 32 provides some protection against plate members engaging heavy or immovable objects.

Means other than motor 47 can be utilized for activating the plow to and from the snow storing position. For example, a sprocket could be fixed to one end of the shaft 40 and the sprocket could be connected by way of a drive chain to a reversible motor having a rotary output, such as an electric motor.

It is also possible, of course, to provide the plow with mounting means different than mounting brackets 50. For example, the plow could be equipped with means which would make it possible to mount it under a vehicle, such as a road grader, in place of the single grading blade.

It is believed obvious that these and other modifications can be made to the specific embodiment described and shown without departing from the spirit of the invention as defined in the appended claims.

I claim:

1. A material-moving plow comprising a rear blade, a framework, a front blade held by said framework at a distance in front of said rear blade in the direction of travel of the plow to define a material storage space in front of said rear blade, each blade having a material engaging front surface extending at an angle to the direction of travel of the plow, at least a portion of said front blade being movable relative to said framework between a plowing position and a material passing open position, and a plurality of spaced plate members movable relative to said framework between an inoperative position and a working position, said plate members in said working position extending forwardly from the front surface of the rear blade to divide said storage space along the front of said rear blade into a plurality of compartments for receiving and storing material passing said portion of the front blade in the open position.

2. A plow as defined in claim 1, wherein said portion of the front blade and said plate members are mounted on a common shaft extending substantially parallel to said front blade, said plate members in said inoperative position extending upwardly from said shaft behind said front blade when said portion of the front blade is in said plowing position.

3. A plow as defined in claim 1, wherein said front and rear blades have scraping edges along the bottom of the front surfaces thereof, the scraping edge of said rear blade being lower than the scraping edge of said front blade.

4. A device for plowing snow from a surface, said device comprising front and rear blades, each blade having a lower scraping edge and a snow engaging elongated front surface slanting away from the direction of travel of the device toward a delivery end of the blade, a framework connecting said blades and holding said front blade at a distance in front of said rear blade to define a snow storage space in front of said rear blade, a shaft carried by said framework, said shaft being spaced above the scraping edge of the front blade and extending in the same direction as the elongated front surface of the front blade, a major portion of said front blade being detached from the remainder of the front blade and being mounted on said shaft for pivoting movement to a raised inoperative position, and a plurality of spaced plate members fixed behind said major portion and arranged to pivot into a working position in said storage space as said major portion is pivoted to the inoperative position, said plate members in said working position being vertical and extending substantially in the direction of travel of the de vice to thereby divide said storage space into a plurality of snow receiving compartments along the length of the front surface of the rear blade.

5. A device as defined in claim 4, wherein the scraping edge of the front blade is arranged to be held in spaced relation to the surface being scraped by surface engaging shoe members mounted under the front blade.

6. A device as defined in claim 4, and further comprising a piston and cylinder type fluid motor connected between said rear blade and said major portion of said front blade at a point above said shaft, whereby contraction of said motor pulls said major portion to the inoperative position.

7. A device for clearing snow from surfaces, said device comprising front and rear blades, each blade having a lower scraping edge and a snow engaging elongated front surface of concave cross-section, said front surface slanting away from the direction of travel toward a delivery end of the blade, a major portion of said front blade being detached from the remainder of the front blade, said remainder including end portions aligned with said major portion .at opposite ends of the front blade and a bottom strip integral with said end portions and extending the length of the front blade in substantial alignment with the lower edge of said major portion, a shaft spaced upwardly from said bottom strip and extending between said end portions of the front blade, said major portion of the front blade being mounted on said shaft for pivotal movement about the axis of said shaft from a snow plowing position to an inoperative position with the lower edge of said major portion raised forward of said shaft, a framework including a pair of arms connected to the rear blade adjacent the ends thereof and extending forwardly from the rear blade above the front surface of the rear blade, each arm being connected to one of said end portions of said front blade and thereby holding said front blade at a distance in front of said rear blade, and a plurality of plate members fixed along the back of the major portion of the front blade and extending upwardly therefrom, said plate members being arranged to swing downwardly and form vertical partitions extending in the direction of travel of the device between said front and rear blades as said major portion is pivoted to the inoperative position, the partitions providing a plurality of snow storing compartments along the length of the front surface of the rear blade.

8. A device as defined in claim 7, further comprising a pair of surface engaging shoe members under opposite ends of said front blade arranged to hold said bottom strip of the front blade in spaced relation to the surface being cleared.

9. A device as defined in claim 7, wherein the rear edges of the partitions formed by said plate members are convexly contoured to fit into the concave front surface of the rear blade.

10. A device as defined in claim 7, wherein there is provided mounting brackets secured to and projecting rearwardly from said rear blade for mounting said device on a front end lift system of a motor vehicle.

11. A device as defined in claim 7, and including an end plate member on said major portion adjacent the delivery end of front blade inclined relative to the other plate members, said end plate member being arranged to provide an end partition slanting outwardly from top to bottom. 1

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,763,943 9/1956 Lotz 37-42 X 3,208,166 9/1965 Proulx 37-42 3,209,475 10/ 1965 Salna 37-1172 ABRAHAM G. STONE, Primary Examiner.

S. C. PELLEGRINO, Assistant Examiner. 

1. A MATERIAL-MOVING PLOW COMPRISING A REAR BLADE, A FRAMEWORK, A FRONT BLADE HELD BY SAID FRAMEWORK AT A DISTANCE IN FRONT OF SAID REAR BLADE IN THE DIRECTION OF TRAVEL OF THE PLOW TO DEFINE A MATERIAL STORAGE SPACE IN FRONT OF REAR BLADE, EACH BLADE HAVING A MATERIAL ENGAGING FRONT SURFACE EXTENDING AT AN ANGLE TO THE DIRECTION OF TRAVEL OF THE PLOW, AT LEAST A PORTION OF SAID FRONT BLADE BEING MOVABLE RELATIVE TO SAID FRAMEWORK BETWEEN A PLOWING POSITION AND A MATERIAL PASSING OPEN 